The present invention relates generally to an exercising device and, more particularly, to exercising devices for the development of pertinent muscles related to the use of the upper torso and limb, such as shoulder, forearm, wrist, hand, and fingers, for activities such as golf, tennis, baseball, and other non-sport activities.
Golfers as well as tennis players, and to some extent baseball players, need strength in their shoulders, hands, wrists, forearms, and fingers in a very special way. Among the posterior muscles of the forearm needed for a good golf swing are: flexor carpi ulnaris, extensor carpi ulnaris, and extensor digiti minimi. Among the muscles around the wrist that are necessary for a good golf swing are abductor pollicis longus, extensor pollicis brevis, extensor indicis, and abductor pollicis longus. Moreover, shoulder, thumb, forefinger, and middle finger are also involved in the swing of a golf club. A good golfer must have a strong shoulder, forearm, wrist, and hand in a natural resistance to the club head speed of a swinging golf club.
Occasionally, people confined to beds or wheelchairs also need to exercise certain muscles related to upper torso and limbs. This exercise will prevent the deterioration of those related muscles.
Numerous wrist and forearm exercising apparatus are already known. Unfortunately, these known apparatus often develop the "wrong muscles" in the hands, wrists, forearms, and fingers for a good golf swing. For example, most wrist and forearm exercising devices strengthen the anterior muscles of the forearm, such as brachioradialis and certain other flexomuscles, rather the posterior forearm muscles. These "wrong muscles" are developed by strenuously moving the hand-held weights toward oneself. As discussed above, it is the other muscles of the shoulder, wrist, the hand, and the posterior of the forearm that are needed for a good golf swing.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,019,019 issued to Forte, an exercising device for practicing hand wrestling is taught including an table-mount bracket with an U-shaped yoke secured to the base of the bracket and an inclined strip at right angles to the yoke. A pulley sheave is slidably mounted on the strip and a chain, carrying weights at the lower end, passes over the pulley sheaves. The top end of the chain has a handle to be grasped by the user's hand for pulling and raising the weights.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,239,208 issued to Walls teaches a wrist and forearm conditioner and exerciser. The device has a handle similar to that of a tennis racquet attached to a handle carrier, a frame rotatably mounting the carrier onto a wall, a resilient member attached on the frame and increasing the tension when the handle is rotated.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,913 issued to Brentham, a forearm exercising device is disclosed. The device utilizes a fluid flow resistance means adapted to resist movement equally in either direction. The device has a support frame and a grip secured to one end of a shaft rotatably secured in the support frame and a crank arm secured on the opposite end of the shaft. A cylinder secured to the shaft controls the rate of movement of the shaft and the grip to which the user applies his arm. An upper arm support is adjustably secured to align the medial axis of the forearm with the axis of rotation of the shaft which the user is gripping to control the movement when the user moves his hand through supination and pronation. A forearm support platform is secured such that the hand and wrist extend beyond the edge of the platform when gripping the crank arm to restrain forearm movement as the hand moves the crank arm at a controlled speed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,717 issued to Lambert discloses a wrist curl machine. The machine is defined by three hand grip areas, two sprockets associated with these three hand grip areas and chain elements operative connected with these sprockets which in turn traverse through weights and a counter balance system which negates the weight of the elements associated with the structure and the variable weights themselves provide the total resistance to the work done by the wrist of the forearm of the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,392,649 issued to Chapman teaches a hand, wrist and forearm exercising device. The device has a roller assembly adapted to be grasped by either one or both hands of the user for rolling or twisting of the assembly about its own longitudinal axis. The resistance to the rolling or twisting can be preselected by the user. The opposite ends of the roller assembly are secured to a suitable support structure, such as a bence press apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,482,149 issued to Weldon discloses an arm exercising device. It has an exercising arm adjustable to different lengths to accommodate forearms of different lengths and attached to a bearing supported lateral rod which has an upright position at the other end. The devices are attached at one end to the lateral rod, and at the opposite end, to a tension bar which is adjustable with respect to the base.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,072,308 issued to Applegate, a portable forearm exercise is taught. The exerciser has a U-shaped frame which can be removably secured to the upper edge of a door, a bracket adjustable vertically with respect to a depending leg of the frame, a hand-manipulated weight-elevating bar rotatably mounted in the bracket, a bag selectively fillable with varying amounts of water, and a cable guiding over the upper end of the frame proximate the top of the door which connects at its opposite ends to the weighted bag and the rotatable bar to facilitate raising and lowering the bag as the bar is rotated in opposite directions by the user to reel and un-reel the cable.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,935 issued to Lusk discloses a weight lifting apparatus for arm development and conditioning. It is particularly suited for developing the arm for arm wrestling and for making power lifts. The apparatus has a cuff-like shackle component to fit over the forearm, with an attached hand grip member, a holding pedestal for weights, a plurality of weights to fit on the holding pedestal, and a flexible connecting member to connect the cuff-like shackle component to the holding pedestal. The cuff-like shackle component has a positioning member built into the structure to which the flexible connecting member is affixed. The positioning member is arranged so that the flexible connecting member may be conveniently and quickly reset in three different positions for three changes in exercises which the user is utilizing the cuff-like shackle component.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,925 issued to Kock and Schuster teaches a device for exercising muscles associated with elbow tendonitis, including also the hand and wrist. A handle mechanism, mounted on a frame, includes a fixed handle and movable handle whose movement is being resisted by a variable force. The user grasp the two handles simultaneously and exert the fingers so as to move the movable handle towards the fixed handle in opposition to the applied force. Rotation of the handle mechanism is provided with torsional resistance which may be varied.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,203 issued to Moss discloses a forearm developer having a cylindrical handle with a rope suspended from its center for attachment to a weight to raise the weight by twistingly rotating the handle. The handle is supported by a suspended frame having two depending parallel spaced support loops into which the opposing ends of the handle are placed for rotatable support.
It is, thus, desirable to provide an exercising device that will strengthen the precise muscles needed for activities such as golf, tennis, and baseball. What is needed for a golfer, for example, is strong shoulder, forearm, wrist and hand in a natural resistance to the speed of a swinging golf club head.